Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Technical Stuff (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/)

-   -   A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/102011-superb-car-cleaning-polishing-detailing-guide-629.html)

Hi

I am looking for an orbital car polisher with variable speed control.
I will be using it for buffing, waxing and applying sealant.
I saw these 2 options:

http://www.amazon.in/Bosch-7-inch-12...s=car+polisher

http://www.amazon.in/Black-Decker-KP...s=car+polisher

Any other recommendation?
What about dewalt?

PS. i checked a few recent pages of this thread, could not find any info regrading polishing machines.

Has anyone got a solution to take care of chrome bumpers and rims on old cars like Ambassador, Padmini etc.

Between two links posted above, please skip the second one as it may be useful only for waxes or may do a less than decent job with a filler heavy paint cleaner.

Bosch looks good, however RPM starts from 750, I prefer RPM range to be 600-3000. I don't own a dewalt, but many here given positive feedback on the same. Bosch is a bit on the heavier side I believe.

On a side note, you might need to invest in some good backing plates and foam pads.


I think, collinite has a metal polish and waxpol metal polish is available in the local market as well.

What are your expectations from using a machine polisher?

What level of finish are you targetting?

What is your overall budget for the exercise?

Do you have any prior experience in using any of these polishers?

What polishes/waxes/sealants do you have/plan to buy and intend to use with the polisher?

:OT

Mods: I want answer to a certain issue which I face. Feel free to direct me if this is already answered.

In my parking lot, there is water/drain seepage happening through the concrete above. When this hits the car, solidifies and leaves a solid mark onto the car paint. No cleaner so far removed this with great success. The smudges are even more evident on plastic.

There is no escaping the seepage as its right on the entrance. I am in talks with plumper to fix the leaks but since there are many levels above, this process is time consuming.

I have seen a lot of cars in Bangalore 'happily ferrying' with these dirty smudges.
Appreciate if anyone can suggest a formula which can clean this?

Could you post some pics of the smudges?

Plain water or even dirty water would not leave smudges which don't go away.

Hey @honeybee, Not sure of the source. I will post some pics soon. By the way the field people & even cleaners at service centre call it 'acidic smudge'. Hope pictures will explain

These are some pictures as promised.

Anoop : White Vinegar ( Synthetic ) does the trick. Buy a small bottle ( Rs. 25 approx ), wet a good towel and start a slow wipe. Use generous quantity of vinegar which slowly dissolves the stuff ... Please update here after your experiment.

+1. Vinegar works like magic. I cleaned couple of such stains on my car this morning. I diluted the vinegar, and used an old toothbrush to rub the stain away. Worked like a charm.

@Shifu and Anoop : Please be careful while rubbing with toothbrush. The loose dissolved particles are very effective abrasives. If you are vigorous with rubbing, these eat up the clearcoat. The trick is to keep the spot submerged in vinegar and let vinegar do the stuff of dissolving. It is better to use a soft towel. I learned all this in a hard way :)

Guys, please suggest me a good
1. Glaze
2. Wax
3. Sealant
To use with Meguiar's Ultimate polish.
I have heard of following products-
Glaze- Meguiar's M26
Wax- Meguiar's Nxt gen wax, Meguiar's black wax, Poorboys Natty's blue paste, Collinite 845, Optimum car wax.
Paint sealant- Ultima paint guard plus.
Please suggest me the most suitable combo?
Also, what is a compound used for? This is the first time I am trying to detail my car so some advice from the team would be really helpful!:)

Regards,
Shreyak

I have used few of the products which you have listed like Collinite 845, Natty Blue Wax, Ultima Paint Guard Plus on my black car. The combination which I personally like the most and best worked for me with Ultimate Polish was:

1. Compound: Meguiars Ultimate Compound
2. Glaze: Poorboys Black Hole
3. Sealant: Fourstar Ultimate Paint Protection
4. Wax: Poorboys Natty Blue Paste Wax

When it comes to ease of use, Ultima Paint Guard Plus scores over Fourstar but I still somehow like the shine imparted by Fourstar even though basically both are from same manufacturer. As I mentioned this is my personal favorite combination and there are many other cheaper alternatives too :) If you have a light colored car, then there are other combinations which experts can suggest. I have tried all these products by hand.

Waxes and sealants do the same thing - mainly protect the underlying layer of clear coat. You can use both as some suggest, but it's meant to be either wax or sealant as last stage layer. Sealants are synthetic compounds with little or no natural wax, but many wax+sealant hybrids are available.

Glazes bring a shine to the paint, by filling up crevices. Polishes do the same but not by filling up crevices/scratches, but by levelling the surrounding surface via abrasive action , so use polishes with a little caution.

Compounds are short for rubbing compounds. They are more abrasive than polish and meant to cut away/abrade surface imperfections. It's best to use these with great caution, they can strip away clear coat/paint quicker. There are different levels of cut/abrasion compounds available, usually they are all meant for DA/rotary tool use.

Among your list, I was not very impressed by Collinite, but I still most of it left, so I'll give it another try later. I have PB Natty's blue now, just not used it yet. I have used the Meguiar's Black wax and find it impressive, but be careful not to use it often as it's a cleaner wax and thus mildly abrasive like polish, does not have much longevity and is expensive for the quantity it is packaged in. The Meguiar's NXT 2.0 Tech wax also is a cleaner wax, so I don't think it should be used too often. I have not used M26 but heard lot of praise for it. Waxes and sealants per se are not supposed to have corrective properties (that's what glaze and polish is for), but you have manufacturers mix polish+glaze in waxes to produce all-in-one (AIO) products for those who want one thing for everything and not use multiple specialized products. That's why you have these AIO/cleaner waxes.

I'd suggest :
Polish/glaze : either Meguiar's Ultimate Polish (if you need to actually polish), or Meguiar's Mirror Glaze. I have not used PB Black Hole, but I did use PB White Diamond, and not convinced about it.

Sealant/Wax: Collinite 845 liquid wax or 476s paste wax if you're convinced it works for you, but sealants like Ultima Paint Guard Plus are more durable.

I'm personally keen on trying out Menzerna Power Protect Ultra Sealant , Optima Opti-seal , Ultima Paint Guard Plus and Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant since waxes don't have that much durability. Sigh - so much to try, so little money!
Welcome to the world of detailing OCD !:D

Thank you sir.
The car in question is a black one too.
Can you please tell me how long does the poorboys natty blue last as compared to collinite?
And how does Meguiar's M26 glaze score against poorboys black hole?

Thank you so much sir! Is compounding required on a 1+ year old car?

Regards,
Shreyak!